10 Most Famous Bear Attacks in History

It's rare, but every now and then, a grizzly bear attack will occur — these ones happen to be the most famous.

It’s impossible to deny the appeal that all kinds of bears have in popular culture — and for good reason.

There’s something majestic about how a fully grown bear looks, combined with the cuteness beyond words of a bear cub. This means that we want to see them in every step and every stage of their lives, and no bear is more majestic than the grizzly bear (more commonly referred to as the brown bear).

Despite our fascination, we should never forget that these are wild, dangerous animals that can kill a human in seconds. Here’s a look at the most well-known and famous grizzly bear attacks of all time as well as insight into the famous black bear featured in the dark comedy, “Cocaine Bear.”

College Wrestler Saves Friend From Grizzly Attack

Brady Lowry and Kendell Cummings

Northwest College wrestlers Kendell Cummings and Brady Lowry were hunting in Cody, Wyoming, in October 2022 and walking back to their vehicle when Lowry noticed bear tracks … seconds before a grizzly charged out of the woods and attacked him.

Cummings tried to throw objects at the bear as it attacked Lowry, but when that didn’t work he leaped onto the bear’s back to try and get it off his friend. As the two tried to escape, the bear attacked Cummings, this time severely injuring him by biting his head and cheek.

The wrestlers eventually escaped, found two other teammates who were nearby and limped a mile to safety, where they were found by local farmers and taken to a hospital and underwent surgeries for lacerations to both of their bodies.

What Happened Next: Back to the Mat for Heroes

Northwest College Athletics

The two college wrestlers not only recovered from their bear attack but became national heroes for their willingness to go back for each other despite the risk to their lives.

They also got back to the sport that brought them together in the first place. Both wrestlers were listed on the Northwest College 2022-23 roster as sophomores, with Cummings listed at 141 pounds and Lowry at 149 pounds.

Legendary Alaskan Runner and Her Son Die in Shocking Bear Attack

Archive Photo

The deadliest bear attack in Alaskan history occurred on July 1, 1995, when famed long-distance runner Marcie Trent and her son, Larry Waldron, were training with her 14-year-old grandson outside of Anchorage when Trent and Waldron were attacked and killed by a grizzly bear. The bear was thought to have been protecting a moose carcass.

Trent, who was 77 at the time of her death, set a world record for women 65 and older at the 1983 Boston Marathon and set the women’s record at Colorado’s Pikes Peak Marathon as well. Trent’s grandson escaped by running and climbing up a tree.

What Happened Next: Trent Elected to Alaska Sports Hall of Fame

Alaska Sports Hall of Fame / YouTube

In total, Trent owned 11 national age-group running records at various distances and 25 Alaska age-group records. Trent was posthumously elected to the USA Track and Field Masters Hall of Fame in 2002 and is also a member of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. She was also the founder of the Pulsators Running Club — the first running club in Alaska.

The Trent Waldron Half Marathon is run annually in honor of the two killed in the bear attack.

Grizzly From ‘Semi-Pro’ Kills Trainer

Rocky the Bear Updated Page / Facebook

Stephan Miller worked at the animal training facility, Predators in Action, for his cousin, Randy Miller, and was trying to do a “bear wrestling” stunt in 2008 with Rocky, the bear used in the Will Ferrell basketball comedy “Semi-Pro.” But he was attacked and killed.

The attack occurred when Rocky stood on his hind legs, showing his full 7-foot-6 and 700 pounds, and Stephan wasn’t in the correct posture. Randy said he poked Rocky with a cane to get him to go back to his previous stance and he responded by biting Stephan in the neck, almost instantly killing him.

What Happened Next: ‘Semi-Pro’ Bear Allowed to Live

Predators in Action / Facebook

Rocky was not euthanized but was never allowed to work in the film, television or promotional industry again.

At the time of Stephan Miller’s death, Predators in Action was on a run of working on some of the most successful films in Hollywood, including “The Last Samurai,” starring Tom Cruise, and “Gladiator,” starring Russell Crowe.

Terrifying ‘Night of the Grizzlies’ in Montana

Wikipedia

The night of Aug. 13, 1967, became known as the “Night of the Grizzlies” in Montana when two young women were attacked and killed by grizzlies on the same night in Glacier National Park.

Julie Helgeson, 19, was camping at the Granite Park Chalet when a bear invaded her tent with her boyfriend, who was severely mauled while Helgeson was killed. Some 9 miles away in the park, a different grizzly bear invaded a campsite near Trout Lake, and Michelle Koons, 19, failed to escape up a tree like her fellow campers and was killed.

Two nights later, both bears were killed by hunters in the park. Jack Olsen’s 1969 book, “The Night of the Grizzlies,” was centered around the attacks.

What Happened Next: Bestselling Book Inspired “Rambo” Film Franchise

FilmPhonic / Twitter

“The Night of the Grizzlies” was met with critical acclaim. Olsen’s style of narrative fiction and fast-paced, action-filled writing inspired a whole new genre of fiction writers who name-checked Olsen when their books became hits.

Those included “First Blood” by David Morrell in 1970, which inspired the “Rambo” film series, and “Off Season” by Jack Ketchum in 1980.

Grizzly Adams … Was Actually Killed by a Grizzly Bear

JohnDalyBooks / Twitter

John “Grizzly” Adams was a famous California mountain man and bear trainer in the mid-1850s who was known particularly for his affinity for grizzly bears and his ability to train them and have them perform in circus acts.

Grizzly Adams made personal pets of several grizzlies and would regularly wrestle with them. But in 1855, one such wrestling incident led to a severe injury for Adams, who had his entire scalp dislodged from his head and a silver-dollar hole poked in it as well. Five years later, while wrestling with another bear, General Fremont, the old injury was aggravated, and Adams died at 48 years old.

What Happened Next: ‘Grizzly Adams’ Becomes 1970s TV Staple

Wikipedia

Dan Haggerty portrayed Grizzly Adams in the hit 1974 film, “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” and the television show of the same name that aired for 38 episodes over two seasons in 1977 and 1978. The story was concluded with a TV film, “The Capture of Grizzly Adams,” in 1982.

Grizzly Adams proved to be the role of a lifetime for Haggerty, who got his start as a stuntman, specifically with a bit part in the legendary 1969 film, “Easy Rider,” in which he doubled as a motorcycle repairman for the production. Haggerty also worked behind the scenes as an animal trainer for Walt Disney Studios in the 1970s.

Haggerty, who died in 2016 at 73 years old, was a wild man in his own right. He once shut down production of “Grizzly Adams” in 1977 after he suffered third-degree burns while drinking a flaming cocktail, was arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover police officer in 1985 and managed to recover after a motorcycle accident put him into a coma in 1991.

Man Survives After Grizzly ‘Ripped My Face Off’

Jeremy Evans

Jeremy Evans was on a hunting trip in Albert, Canada, in 2017, when he came across a grizzly bear and her cub and was attacked — he eventually wrote a book about his experience, “Mauled: Lessons From a Grizzly Bear Attack” in 2019.

Evans wrote that the grizzly attacked him instantly and, with one bite, ripped off most of his face. He fought the bear off with a pair of binoculars and escaped, hiking eight hours and holding his face together and his head wrapped in toilet paper, and he somehow survived.

What Happened Next: Did ‘Baby Shark’ Save Jeremy Evans?

Jeremy Evans and Crosbie Cotton

Five weeks after he was attacked by the bear, Evans was released from the hospital. Seven weeks later, he was back at work. One year after his attack, he returned to the same area for a hunting trip and to thank the people who helped save his life.

One interesting tidbit from Evans’ miraculous story of survival was about the song that played continuously on his phone when he sought help immediately following the attack. The children’s song “Baby Shark” was all he could get to work on his phone because he’d been playing it so much for his 6-month-old son. Evans credited the song as helping him in his trek toward survival.

‘Cocaine Bear’ — Based on a True Story?

Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall

We made one exception for this list to include a much smaller, somewhat less dangerous bear — the American black bear — because it’s such a wild story and probably needs to be debunked somewhat.

The movie “Cocaine Bear” claims to be based on the true story of the 175-pound black bear who was found dead in northern Georgia in 1985 next to 40 opened plastic containers of cocaine.

While the movie depicts a crazed bear who attacks people, the actual bear did no such thing. In fact, he’s been stuffed and displayed in the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall since 2015.

What Happened Next: ‘Cocaine Bear’ Becomes Surprise Box-Office Hit

Richard Shotwell / AP Photo

Directed by Elizabeth Banks and starring Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich, “Cocaine Bear” became a surprise hit at the box office and grossed $60 million in its first three weeks of release. The film was made with a $30 million budget. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper gave the film three out of four stars and wrote it was “wildly entertaining and darkly hilarious … genuinely well-crafted horror.”

It was also the final film role for actor Ray Liotta, to whom the film was dedicated. It’s a safe bet to say we will probably get “Cocaine Bear 2” at some point in the future.

Documentary Tells True Story of ‘Grizzly Man’ Killings

bigcontentguy / Twitter

The most famous grizzly attack of all time came with the killings of “bear enthusiast” Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, in 2003. The footage was eventually turned into the documentary film, “Grizzly Man,” by acclaimed director Werner Herzog.

Treadwell spent 13 summers in the Katmai National Park in Alaska, where he believed he’d come to be so familiarized with the bears that they no longer posed a threat to him. But in 2003, he stayed past his usual exit date of August and into October when bears become more desperate for food ahead of hibernation. The couple was eventually attacked and killed, and their remains as well as video recordings were found by an airplane pilot.

What Happened Next: ‘Grizzly Man’ Becomes a Phenomenon

Vianney Le Caer / AP Photo

Since the early 1960s, director Werner Herzog has directed more than 60 feature films and documentaries along with writing a dozen books and directing some of the world’s best operas.

But few of his projects hit as big as “Grizzly Man” — or faced him with such a harrowing choice. Herzog obtained Treadwell’s recordings that actually picked up the deadly attack on Treadwell and Huguenard. Herzog ultimately decided not to use the tapes in the documentary and have them destroyed — something he depicts in the film.

“Grizzly Man” was a critical success, receiving four stars from Roger Ebert and winning Best Documentary Film from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle, San Francisco Film Critics Circle and Toronto Film Critics Association as well as being nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

The Real Grizzly Attack Behind ‘The Revenant’

VyceVictus / Twitter

In 1823, frontiersman and fur trapperHugh Glass was mauled and severely injured and maimed by a grizzly bear during a fur-trapping expedition in the South Dakota wilderness. Left for dead by his traveling party, Glass somehow managed to survive, crawling and floating a river to make it the 200 miles back to Fort Kiowa.

The harrowing story of Glass’ survival was turned into the 2015 Academy Award-winning film “The Revenant” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

What Happened Next: ‘The Revenant’ Finally Brings Leo the Oscar

Leonardo DiCaprio wins Oscar for best actor

Matt Sayles / AP Photo

“The Revenant” proved to be the role that finally brought Leonardo DiCaprio an Academy Award — it was his sixth nomination over 22 years that began with his Best Supporting Actor nomination for “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” in 1994 when he was just 19 years old.

DiCaprio did not appear in a movie for over three years after his win in “The Revenant,” only returning to the screen in 2019 in “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood,” working with director Quentin Tarantino and opposite Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. And guess what? He was nominated for another Academy Award for Best Actor, losing out to Joaquin Phoenix.

The Bear Who Almost Won an Academy Award

Bart the Bear in 'The Edge' with Anthony Hopkins

DavidLeninhawk / Twitter

There is no more famous bear in history than Bart the Bear — a 10-foot tall, 1,500-pound Hollywood bear who starred in movies like “The Edge,” “The Bear” and “Legends of the Fall.” He was so good in “The Bear” that there was a movement amongst Academy Award voters to give him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

There was one scary incident in Bart’s career that resulted in injuries to a co-worker. This happened after “The Bear” director Jean-Jacques Annaud decided to ignore the advice of Bart’s trainers and enter a cage with Bart to take publicity pictures. Unfortunately, the director was mauled.

What Happened Next: Bart the Bear’s Legacy

Thrones_Facts / Twitter

When worked with properly, though, Bart seems to have been quite the professional. Two-time Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins worked with Bart on two films — “Legends of the Fall” and “The Edge” — and was said to spend long periods of time “just staring into Bart’s eyes.” He’s one of the only actors to actually film his scenes with Bart instead of using a stunt double.

Bart’s career covered 20 film and television roles, and he was even a presenter at the 1998 Academy Awards alongside comedian Mike Myers. In addition to working with Hopkins, Bart also worked with such legendary actors as Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Ethan Hawke, Annette Bening and John Candy. Director Lee Tamahori (“Die Another Day”) once called Bart “The John Wayne of Bears.”

Bart died in 2000 at 23 years old. Another bear performer named after Bart — Bart the Bear II — forged his own path to fame and was featured in “Game of Thrones” several times.